by Lem Satterfield
(See video interviews and some practice highlights below)
This majority of this year's Baltimore contingent of the Under Armour High School All-American Lacrosse team reads like a 'Who's Who' of the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association's rising senior players.
There is Jack Doyle, Paul Danko, Davey Emala and Cooper Brown of the MIAA A Conference runner-up Gilman squad, which finished at 18-1.
The roster also includes Ohio State-bound Tyler Adelsberger,
Bucknell University-bound Ryan Gutowski, Georgetown University-bound
Jason McFadden, Loyola-bound Patrick Fanshaw, Maryland-bound Michael
Scheeler and Johns Hopkins-bound Christopher Lightner -- all of whom
attended Calvert Hall.
MIAA A Conference champion Loyola has Emmett Cahill and Kyle Holecheck; league rival McDonogh has Brian Hess, Curtis Holmes and Sam Ford; Severn has Tom D'ambrogi and Adam Cohen; and there are Harry Kreiger and Ryley Hansen, respectively, of St. Paul's and St. Mary's.
Only five of the names listed on the Baltimore roster respresent public schools, with the most widely known being Centennial attackman Harrison Chaires, who will enter his senior season in the fall. The others are soon-to-be-seniors Skippy Clary of Baltimore County's Catonsville, Michael Ward of Howard High in Howard County, Blake Bing of Frederick County's Urbana, and Jimmy Marlatt, who will be a junior in the fall at River Hill of Howard County.
"This means a lot. When I first tried out for this team, it was like
a dream, because I'm only a sophomore, so I didn't really expect to
make it. I had never played with these private school kids before, so I
mean, I guess I was a little nervous," said Marlatt, who scored 50
goals, assisted on 12 others and scooped 64 ground balls for the Hawks
this past spring.
"But it's just lacrosse, and we all know how to play it. I learned
that I could fit in if I could still shoot. I understand that it's very
rare, and like I said, I didn't expect to make it," said Marlatt, a
midfielder.
"I came out for the experience, so that maybe I'd
make it next year. But I made both this and the Freestate Team, so it's
been a big summer," Marlatt said.
"I don't feel like I have a
lot of pressure on me, but I can see a lot of people looking at me just
because I am representing Howard County lacrosse, public school
lacrosse and the underclassmen," Marlatt said.
Marlatt, Bing, Chaires, Clary and Ward were on hand for a team practice on sweltering, Tuesday evening at Catonsville High School, whose coach, Jeff Mohler, will lead Team Baltimore against Philadelphia's All-American team on Saturday at Towson University.
In
the other game, New Jersey's All-Stars face Washington, D.C.'s, with
the losers of each semifinal meeting in the consolation, and the
winners, for the title.
DigitalSports will have coverage of the entire day of games, which are detailed on the Under Armour website at http://underarmourlacrosse.com/ .
"This is certainly an extremely talented bunch of kids. This is
the best of the best in the Baltimore area that are rising juniors and
seniors. They're all big-time players, they're all very talented
players, so it's going to be a very exciting event for us," said
Mohler, whose best returning player, Skippy Clary, is among those he
praised.
"Skippy's just a tough kid. It's one of those things where, as his
coach, I kind of have to step back and let other coaches evaluate him,"
Mohler said. "Skippy was an alternate last year, and he was able to
step up and make the team this year. It's a great honor for Skip, and
it's nice to have him represent Catonsville High School."
Ward did not make the All-Howard County first-team despite his scoring 90 points on 54 goals and 36 assists for the Lions.
"This is great. I didn't think I was going to make it. But I guess I
just went out there and played my best. I just went out there and
hustled my hardest. I just went out there and tried my best," said
Ward, who considered Chaires and Marlatt "my friends from summer
league. We're all familiar with each other."
A former Boys' Latin student as a freshman, Chaires scored 45 goals
and assisted on 25 others as a Mount Hebron sophomore, when he helped
the Vikings to win the Howard County title.
At Centennial, this past season, the junior scored 62 goals and
assisted on 30 others while also scooping 59 ground balls for a team
that reached the Class 3A-2A state semifinals.
"I'm looking forward to being able to play with some of the best of
Baltimore's lacrosse players," said Chaires, whose father, Bill, was an
attackman at Princeton. "I played against some of them when I went to
B.L. my freshman year, but it's going to be fun to play with top-level
kids on the same team."
Chaires also had praise for fellow Howard Countians, Marlatt and Ward.
"Mike sort of plays like I do, driving to the goals and looking for
open people who are cutting to us," Chaires said. "Jimmy's good from
driving up top. And he has a really good outside shot. He's just as
good as some of the kids from the private schools."
Bing, as a junior this past spring, scored 36 goals and assisted on 28 others for an Urbana Hawks' program that has lost its last three playoff games in two state championship berths and one state semifinal.
In those game, the Hawks lost to Class 3A-2A state champs Mount
Hebron and Glenelg of Howard County, and Class 4A-3A state champ
Dulaney by a combined total of four goals.
Bing's teammate, defender Greg Anderson
-- who is headed for UMASS -- was named the Class 4A-3A recepient of
the C. Markland Kelly Award bestowed upon the player considered to be
the best in his classification of the state.
The Hawks won their regular season game this year at Dulaney, 8-7 -- the same score by which they lost the state title game to the Lions.
"This feels pretty good. No one else on my team really made it here.
A couple of players tried out for the D.C. team and didn't make that.
I'm honored to be on this team and I'm going to have some fun out
here," said Bing, who has drawn interest from programs such as West
Point, UMBC and North Carolina.
"I'm just going to have some fun, get some college looks hopefully
to help with the recruiting," said Bing, adding of the Hawks, "I think
we have another chance [for a state title] next year. I'm just going to
keep looking forward and working hard."